10th Dec - the Thomas Cook flight taking off from Manchester to Hurghada is late. My pleasure at getting nice seats with extra legroom evapourates quickly as we are told we have to sit and wait whilst the baggage of 3 people who had consumed too much alchohol to be allowed to fly were off loaded. I remember seeing them arguing with the cabin crew..then begging to be allowed to fly. It was about 8.30am and we were boarding the flight..and these men were completely bladdered. Like the cabin crew lass said, you expect the odd one on a stag night flying to Ibiza on a Friday afternoon..but 3 blokes to be steaming at that hour.......so we sit and wait for an hour. I am less than impressed..but I am ok as I am soooo looking forward to my holiday. The flight passes pretty uneventfully and we land in Hurghada just a little late.
Going through the usual chaos of Egyptian customs...we were met by the Regaldive rep and we were ushered to the front of a very long queue to collect our visa's as we had already pre paid in with the price of the holiday. We then have a longer queue to get the passport stamped before getting the bags back. We then find the Regaldive rep outside as we know there will be a bus waiting for us to take us to the Marina where we get on M/Y Blue Horizon. We are the only 2 off our flight for the Liveaboard..so we have plenty of space.
We get to the boat and are met by Dray who is the Dive Leader for a week. He doesnt know we have been on the boat before and wants to take us through a long winded drill. We just ask him if we can fill in the paperwork and find out our cabin number. We have Cabin 8, downstairs. I was less than impressed originally when we got the tickets and found we had not been allocated what we were promised (we kicked off at the time but it made no difference...we found out why on the boat but that is a different story). I was more than happy..I was too knackered to care. We had a 3/4 bed and a single..but the 3/4 was bigger than our double bed at home and we decided to use the other bed as storage space as there is not alot of space in the cabins to store stuff. The bathroom is a walk in one, decent size with a sink, loo and definitely enough room for you both to fit in the shower.
http://www.blueotwo.com/my_blue_horizon.htm
The other people were arriving..there were 3 Danes, Jesper, Nicolai and Bendt ( that was funny when he stood up and said "I am Bent" then blushed and said "I mean, my name is Bendt..I am not") and we all started laughing..him included. There were a crew from Somerset, 5 men, Pete, Ken, Ian, Mitch and Gary. There is always one on every trip..on ours it was Gary. Late for everything..never there when you want him..and the one who spread illness throughout the boat! Fiona and David came from Dublin, Steve and Louise, Gary and Tess and Mark..all from Manchester, Ben and Sarah from Birmingham, Jane and Christine from Birmingham, Collette and Dave from Southend and Will, and the brothers James and Paul. I didn't know at the time what a great bunch of people they would turn out to be.
11th December - set sail from Hurghada heading for Shaab el Urg, which translates as Dolphin Reef for our check dive. This is always something nice and gentle at around 15m so people can sort their kit out, sort thier weights out, drain the air out the tanks ready for Nitrox on the following dives..and generally ease themselves into the dive routine. After this, it becomes Dive Boot Camp and getting up at 5.30am every day! I remember it is my mum's birthday..but I have no coverage on my phone anywhere on the boat...
Dray announces we have a severe weather warning of heavy winds and a storm for the Sunday and the captain has decided to head to Gobel Island to take cover. It is also a good place to dive.
The crew secure us on 7 lines when we get there and Dray draws out the briefing Map for Gobel island/The Barge/Bluff Point..which will be our home for the next 30 odd hours..Dive 2 is on The Barge, which is a wreck of a barge that is almost totally disintergrated but has the most amazing wonderful life on it. I see Octopus, Giant Moray, Pipefish, Clownfish, Lionfish and all the usual assortment. The coral is beautiful and I get some good photo's ( if I knew how to upload them in my report I would....) and just after we had all got out the water, a pod of Dolphins swam past around Bluff Point. We all jumped back in off the boat minus the dive gear ( I was in my clothes!) and managed to swim/snorkel with them..this was a truly magical experience. Suddenly, the night dive got very popular and we all want to go back in, even though it will be cold and dark!. I start to have problems with my left ear...not good..but I do the 3rd dive, the night dive.
12th December - the storm is a brewing...on the boat, there are a few people starting to suffer with a dose of pharoah's and are not diving. I decide to miss a dive as I am having real trouble with my ear. The weather is rough and we are at the same dive site as yesterday sheltering from the storm. There are 3 dives again, but the storm is ferocious and not many people are enthusiastic about the night dive. We decide to have a sweepstake to try and predict what time the Dolphin pod will come past. Amin, who is the Saloon Manager of the Boat says he does not think they will come as the weather is too bad. Just as it is getting dark, they appear..but are not interested in interaction with us.
A rough night follows but the crew have really lashed the boat down..2 other boats arrive to try and take shelter. The sand from the island blows across and covers the boat. Most of us have an early night.
13th December - the storm is almost over. The Captain thinks it is safe to move and says we will cross into the Gulf of Suez. We go to a reef to dive but the Egyptian navy are on exercise there and we are ordered away from the area. The captain says we will head for The Thistlegorm. We are all excited..The Thistlegorm is a well known wreck..and all divers want it on thier CV.
http://www.aquatours.com/wrecks/thistlegorm.htm
We get 2 good dives on this and I get so many good photo's. The Viz gets a bit hammered and on the first dive there are loads of people from day boats..but by the 2nd dive, most of them have gone and we manage to get out to one of the trains that was blown clean away from the boat in the explosion. I also get a great pic of Rob pretending to fire the anti aircraft gun. The tides are still a little rough, so the Captain heads back to Bluff Point to take shelter again for the night. I came down with a dose of the Pharoah's..but I am not going to miss the diving.
14th December - Rob's mum's birthday..and we manage to get a phone signal..so we have a quick ring around both the kids and both sets of parents before the signal goes. We will be diving the Ulysses wreck..not often diveable becuse of the conditions. It sank in August 1887.
Due to the conditions, we could not take the boat and had to go out on the ribs...and just as we tipped in off the side...we came across a mum and her baby dolphin. All thoughts of going to the wreck were abandoned as we swam with mum and baby...and only then when they had gone did any of us even think of going to the wreck..but none of us had a clue where it was since we had swum off with the dolphins!! The next boatload arrived..so we followed them in the general direction.
the Captain decides in the afternoon that the storm is over and he heads off to Abu Nuhas...a famous reef that has claimed many a ship over the years. The 1st one we dive is The Carnatic. This has been underwater for some time and is well established with coral.
We also dive the reef itself at night..but to be honest, this was the most disappointing dive of my holiday..very little life at all. The name Abu Nuhas translates to "Reef of the Copper" which is after the cargo of one of the ships wrecked there.
15th December - these are 2 of my favourite dive sites. Chrissoula K and the Giannis D. Chrissoula K is known as the only schizophrenic shipwreck in the world as there was some debate over whether it was the marcus or Chrissoula K. I think it is Chrissola. This is a wonderful wonderful dive site..so much natural light for us photographers..and it is such an easy dive.
http://www.simplyscuba.com/ShipwreckShow.aspx?ShipwreckID=5
http://www.aquatours.com/wrecks/giannisd.htm
I think this is my favourite diving day and I get 4 good dives ( 3 wreck dives and a reef dive at Siyul Kibeer)..despite still having pharoah's..which is now working its way well and truly around the boat.
16th December - this is the last diving day. We can only dive early in the morning and only do 2 dives as we need to have 24 hours clear before we can fly. me and rob recommend a reef called Careless Reef (pronounced Carr less) as we have done it before. Thankfully, it is still beautiful and everyone else enjoys the dive also. We go back to harbour at hurghada as the boat needs to re-fuel. there is a hive of activity on the docks as a couple of fishing boats are getting ready to leave..and we see men fighting over cans of sprite and other soft drinks.
The last dive of the holiday is at Fanadir..and we got to dive with Dolphins again. It was a nice drift dive and this same dolphin came coming past us time and time again to swim alongside...what a way to finish the holiday. The others get on the rib to go back to the boat...but for a dare, me and Rob hand onto a rope a la James Bond style and get towed back hanging off the rib! We all made plans to go out into the town for a few beers... but since I was quite badly with the pharoahs..I never even made it off the boat and went to bed feeling well sorry for mesen at 8pm! Still, I had more than a weeks detox..no voddy at all..and to be honest, I wasnt bothered.
17th December - Time to say goodbye to the other guests on the boat...a great crowd and we swap facebooks and email addy's etc. The rep arrives to let Gary Mark and Tess know thier flight has been cancelled to Manchester. Mark is quite upset as he was really missing his children. Gary and Tess have practical things to worry about..which Tess sorts outinn a few calls. Blue )2 move them to a hotel AI in Hurghad somewhere. Our flight to Manchester is still on. The others are flying to Gatwick..and we wave goodbye to the Danes.
The less said about our flight home the better (subject to a complaint to Thomas Cook) but just as we were about to land the airport is shut for snow and we have to go up again to fly to Birmingham. When we land at Birmingham, they dont know what to do with us..so we have to sit on the runway until 11.30pm when they let us off the plane. We get through immmigration and dont have a clue where to get bags from...we then have to catch a bus..with no heating..to Manchester.The driver decides he is dropping everyone off at Terminal 3, despite the fact that our plane was due to land at Terminal 1..the snow is quite bad..and just a few hours earlier, I was in 26 degree WATER temperatures..and now it is minus 7. While we wait for a bus, a woman is pushing a pushchair..and her little boy aged no more than 3mybe is white and looks in shock. I can see he is shivering, but he doesnt even have a coat on..he is trying to cry. All he has on is like a jogging suit. I tell her to get him covered up. She rummages in a bag and produces the flimsiest looking piece of cloth, almost like a headscarf and puts that over him. I tell her that is not good enough and she looks at me like I am daft. The I prove how daft I really am by taking off my fleece and wrapping it round her boy twice over and then wrapping the remainder round his head. I now just have a t shirt and jeans and
is it cold. Rob fishes out another fleece for me and I decide I have probably seen the last of that one wrapped around the lad. I know he has stopped crying now. We get on the bus to the car parks...and as we get off, the woman with the pushchair suddenly appears from elsewhere on the bus..returning my fleece to me. Little lad is settled, warm, and asleep. Job done.The car is not too badly buried with snow, but Woodhead and Snake are both shut so it is the long way round on the motorway for us. The snow is proper bad and we are down to just the middle lane. We are cold, knackered and hungry and would have stayed the night in a hotel if there were any rooms. We eventually get home at 5am, 7 hours after we almost landed and realise we could have flown back to Egypt in that time!
We had a great holiday and have to give credit to Regaldive and Blue 02. Blue 02 are not perfect or beyond criticism..but not enough that we would not use them again..in fact, we have already chosen our next trip. To make up for not encountering the sharks this time round..we are going on a Shark Awareness tour and hope to book in the New Year.
I appreciate that this is not the average holiday or this report would not be of interest to most people..but plenty of divers go to the Red Sea..and we have learnt now the best way to enjoy the diving is to forget hotels, do not collect £200 and go straight to the harbour and get on a liveaboard. I have uploaded loads of photo's on my facebook..so if anyone knows me, they can see them there. i will try and put a few on here too when I can work out how to do it..or in the TV bit.
Thank you for reading. (ps, I did try to include photo's but it kept saying the pixels were too big or summt)
i dived the Thistlegorm in July, and its a great dive.
